Book excerpt: This book is about two methods of helping people: counseling and coaching. Unfortunately, many pastors and leaders today use these terms interchangeably, but the two approaches are quite different. Counseling, by its very nature, is past-focused. Who hasn't seen the caricature of some exhausted patient lying on a sofa in a therapist's office? "Tell me about your relationship with your mother," the therapist insists. Pastors, counselors, social workers, and just about everyone who helps others professionally are trained by the counseling model. It is tiresome and often burdensome. Counseling starts with the past, and eventually moves a person forward. Coaching, on the other hand, is future-focused. It is for the relatively emotionally healthy person who simply needs some help overcoming an obstacle, solving a problem, or strategically mapping out their future (life-focusing). Coaching starts with the present and moves a person forward. By far, I prefer coaching over counseling. As a matter of fact, in my current ministry and work, I use what I call the FORWARD Coaching Model about 90% of the time. But I also know that counseling has its place, especially in pastoral ministry. But it is hard, and it is draining. That's why I devote most of the space in this book to counseling. Using Solution-Focused Counseling as a template, I will develop the Future-Focused Counseling model first, and present my FORWARD Coaching Model in the final chapter. It is my sincere desire that this little work will help those who are called to help others. Forward-focused. Solution-focused. It's that simple.